Against Symbolizing with Antichrist in Ceremonies, Part · Chapter 2 · Section 15 [i.e. 14]
#Sect. 15. The Oppoſites firſt reply anſwered: which is, that the law commaunds not the Croſſe as an holy worſhip like the Papiſtes.
FOure things are here replied. Firſt, that the law commandeth it not as an holy worſhip like the Papiſtes; which helpeth not, vnleſſe one of our pillars faile vsus, who hath theſe words,aD Fulke reioynd. art. 1. pag. …140. Alſo he denieth that they attribute the vertue to the ſigne without relation to the merit of Chriſts paſsion. Whereas M. Calſh. ſpeaketh not of ſuch ſhifts as crafty Lawyers can make for their excuſe, but of the opinion of the ignorant people, who hauehave thought without any further relations that the ſigne of the croſſe was an holy, bleſſed and whole ſome thing. The pretence then of the law (not cōmanding it as holy) is but a [ſhiſt] neither is it to be regarded what vſe the Law alloweth, alwhile the vſe which doth follow of the Law is awry in the people. The ſecond excuſe denieth the peoples abuſe herein, which maketh our time like to the fourth age of the Church. Then the reliques of Martyrs were couered velamine pracioſo, and thereupon too highly reuerenced. Vigilantius was grieued as at the reuerence it ſelfe, ſo at this Velamen which wasbIoh Reynold. de Idololat. lib. 1. ca. 6. ſect. 5. Ezech. 16.16. illecebra ad Idololatriam, as well hee might, the ſcripture condemning the latae maculae wherewith the high places were interſtinclae, and the verſi colores veſtes wherewith the Idols were operta for that they prouoked to ſpirituall fornication, euen as in the adultery bodily all inticements are forbidden, as Quid eſt (ſaith one) in capite feminae Corona quam formae laena, quam conflatio illecebrae? It pleaſeth Hierome then to gainſtand Vigilantius defending this illecebra, cTerrul. de coron. milit.and denying ſuch abuſe to followe as was obiected. How truly andGaudent. Brixian. tract. 4. in Exod. indifferent man ſheweth, who liuing in the ſame time confeſſeth that diuerſe by occaſion hereof, parentalia mortibus ſues ſacrificabunt. Like ſtandeth the caſe of the controuerſie about popiſh reliques now. The Law and the holy vſe they hauehave amongſt vsus (as a pretious couering breedeth in the many to high an opinion of holines in them, & of whole poperie to which they belong. Hereupon we are grieued at them, deſiring the remouall of this illecebra from them, we feele herein the reſiſtance of diuerſe Hieromes in our Church, whoſe chiefe argument is a deniall of the abuſes which we obiect. Our plea is iuſt, theſe Hieroms hauing no experience of theſe abuſes, as liuing either in contemplation (it may be at ſome Vniuerſitie) or being otherwiſe buſied (as they who liue in Palaces) are not to bee heard againſt thoſe who like Vigilantius and Gaudentius ſee them daily with our eyes, heare them with our eares, yea (in a manner) feele them palpable with our hands. Is it not common to ſewe redde Croſſes vnderunder the ſhrewdes of the dead ouer right the heart? to lay white Croſſes vponupon the beare, let the Miniſter forbid the ſame with neuer ſo great vehemencie? to make curteſie downe to the ground, while the Miniſter is making of it on the forehead of the child? or to kiſſe the hand or bend the body towardes it? Laſtly to ſet it ouer the doore to hallowe the whole houſe? It beginneth alſo to appeare openly in the booſomes and breaſts of many, whenceeHieron. in Math. 23. Hierome himſelfe once threw it out. I omit to ſturre this ſinke any further. In the time of Gregorie the thirteenth, Richard Atkins fSupplem. ad Cronolog. Ioh. Criſpin. in Gregor. 13Engliſhman catched at the hoſte, as it was carried in the ſtreet at Rome, to teare it downe: but miſſing, hee was iudged by the people to hauehave catched at the holineſſe of it, whereby he eſcaped. The like deuotion remaining in them at this day when they ſee he Lawe commaund vsus to ſcrape a Croſſe in the childes forehead that is Baptized, will they not imagine we euen ſcratch (not catch onelyonly) after the holineſſe of this ſigne? The third excuſe is, that if the Croſſe be ſo abuſed the way is to remedie the abuſe, the Croſſes honour being preſerued notwithſtanding. This galopeth apace towards that ofgBellar. de eccleſ: triumph li. 2. cap. 4. Bellarmine, Non quia pauci nimium cultum praeſtant, ideo omnis cultus abolendus, and towards that whichhSadolet. lib. epiſt. 4. epiſt. 1. & 2 Sadolet once replied to Eraſmus, wiſhing the remouall of certaine pictures, becauſe of the abuſe which followed of them, ſeeing it was onelyonly nimium quid quod in ijs ſubaccuſari poſſe videatur opinionibus ſtudijſ que populi non eſt obſiſtendum. OurlIoh. Reynold. de Idolol it. lib 1. ca. 2. ſect. 7. writers ſtande for a remouall to remedie this [nimium quid] and ſo by conſequent turne Croſſe and Surplice out of doore for the opinion of too great holines that is had of them. Suppoſe this opinion be denied in the people, no colour at all to denie it alſo in the Papiſt, for whoſe ſake we are to leaue them; by the example of our Lord: who therefore refuſed to conforme to the ceremonie of waſhing hands becauſe he ſaw the Phariſies put an holines in it. Marc. 7.2.4.This is that which anmHarmon. confeſſ. ſect. 17. ex confeſſ. Auguſt. p. 222. whole Church ſaith, ſemper illi ritus abijciendi ſunt, quibus aſſuunt aduerſarij opiniones falſas, ne confirmentur vitioſi cultus. The fourth excuſe is, That auncient Lawes hauehave prouided for the holy eſteeme of the Croſſe, and puniſhed the contrary contempt thereof. Conſtantine to honour the Croſſe, forbad malefactors ſhould be crucified. Not to honour the Croſſe, ſay I, but to honour Chriſt. The words of thenSozom. lib. 1. ca. 8. Tripartir. hiſtor. li. 1. cap. 9. ſtorie going thus: Leaſt any in their deſerued puniſhments ſhould be equalled vntounto Chriſt. The like Lawe made byoCod. li. 1. tit 12. leg. 10. Honorius ſheweth the like; who forbad the Iewes to burne any Croſſe, or any other ſigne of Chriſt in contempt of him. p Iulian is abhorred for tearing the Croſſe from the Imperiall ſtandard. TheqConrad. Lutzenb. in verb. Templar. Templars deteſted for ſpitting on the Croſſe. Iohn rGenebrad. in an. 826.the twelfth, condemned in a Synod at Rome, becauſe he vſed not to Croſſe himſelfe, and all deſeruedlie, becauſe it was out of a moſt wicked deſpite of Chriſt and in prophanes that they did it. But God hauehave rewarded them that hauehave reuerenced the Croſſes holines? AssGregor. Turonenſ. li. 5. ca 19. Paul. diacon. li. 18. Tiberius by name, who found a maſſe of great treaſure vnderunder a Croſſe, when in deuotion he tooke him vp that he might not be trod vponupon. But the hiſtorie telleth vsus it was his former almes to the poore that was rewarded in this treaſure. I giuegive inſtance of the like in them that vſe the ſigne of the Croſſe as little as we our ſelues do wiſh; I meane the Proteſtants oftCōmenta. de ſtat. religion. Reg. Gal. Beziers in Fraunce, who as they were digging the foundation of a Church, found a table of ſiluer in time of extremitie when they wanted pay for their ſoldiers: But it was the Croſſe that kept Tiberius his treaſure. And it was an Image with a brazen head in Apulia, hauing this written about it:uPlatina. in vit. Leonis 9. Calendis Maij ſole oriente aureum caput habebo, that kept an huge maſſe of treaſure for a long ſeaſon. Robertus Guiſcardi ranſacking the countrey, was he that diſcouered it in the middeſt of a thicket; but it was a Saracen by the helpe of the Deuill that found out the meaning of the inſcription to be this: that in the Calends of May, at Sunne riſing the ſhadow of the Images head where it lighted on the ground, ſhould hauehave great treaſure of gold vnderneath it. But to returne to our purpoſe, when will ourwD. Rabing vponupon a. commandem. Reuerend Fathers returne to their old inuectiues againſt the holines of croſſing? Our children to the doctrine of their Fathers which is that the CroſſexD. Fulke ag. Saund. of imag. cap. 13. D. Willet. contro. 9.….5. art. 1. muſt be remoued as the ſerpent was broken before the opinion of his holines will out of the fleſh, both Fathers and children to the auncient zeale which hath bene ſhewed from time to time againſt the holy things of aliens? When the Sheepe and the Oxen were holy inyNichol. Galalius in Exod. 8.26. Aegypt, the people of God muſt put them to ſuch vſe in ſacrifice as will debaſe them. No vſe (then) of the holy Croſſe and Surplice is now pleaſing to the Lord, but that which moſt will deſeyze them of this honorable eſtimation; And ſuch is the firſt ſmatch of popiſh leauen in Croſſe and Surplice, to wit, ſuch a twange of holines as is proper to a worſhip.